No respite for 16 BJP leaders, charges likely to be framed

THE PUNJAB BJP LEADERS HAD FILED THREE PLEAS BEFORE A CHANDIGARH COURT SEEKING DISCHARGE IN AN AUGUST 2020 CASE

CHANDIGARH: There is no respite for 16 Punjab BJP leaders, booked for violating prohibitory orders in August 2020, as a local court on Saturday dismissed their application seeking discharge, paving the way for framing of charges against them.

The court has now listed the case for December 23, when the charges are likely to be framed.

The court of chief judicial magistrate Aman Inder Singh dismissed three applications by the BJP leaders seeking discharge.

On August 21, 2020, Chandigarh police had registered a case under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against BJP leaders Vijay Sampla, Tikshan Sood, Arvind Mittal, Madan Mohan Mittal, Arun Narang, Master Mohan Lal, Manoranjan Kalia, Dr Baldev Chawla, Ashwani Sharma, Tarun Chugh, Surjeet Kumar Jyani, KD Bhandari, Arunesh Shakar, Subhash Sharma, Malvinder Singh Kang and Jiwan Gupta.

The leaders were booked for violating prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC), as they were marching towards the residence of the Punjab chief minister as part of a protest against the policies of the Punjab government.

In their applications before the court, the BJP leaders had sought discharge saying that “even if the offence under Section 188 IPC is a cognizable offence as per the CRPC, it cannot be the subject matter of an FIR nor can it be investigated by the police”.

However, relying on Supreme Court judgments, the court held that Section 195 (prosecution for contempt of lawful authority of public servants) of the CRPC did not bar registration of an FIR when an offence under Section 188 of the IPC was committed for the reason that it was a cognizable offence. Turning down the pleas, the court said the police can investigate the offence and present the challan.